Of Significance

At times a book interests you because of specific things you find fascinating.  Other titles will be chosen because of references made by readers you admire.  Regardless of the reason, on a sunny spring morning you are likely to find yourself sitting down with a book you're eager to read.

You look at the dust jacket.  You remove the jacket to look at the book case.  You find yourself smiling at the title, verso and dedication pages.  The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown (Balzar + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, May 21, 2019) written by Mac Barnett with illustrations by Sarah Jacoby is a book which fills every one of those previous qualifying remarks.  It is guaranteed to shift your thoughts on Margaret Wise Brown, and the art of making books as it increases your respect for creators Mac Barnett and Sarah Jacoby.

Margaret Wise Brown lived for 42 years.
This book is 42 pages long.
You can't fit somebody's life into 42 pages,
so I am just going to tell you some important things.

Within the same narrative we learn Margaret Wise Brown wrote more than one hundred books, we also are told other books are written by other people which makes perfect sense.  We are asked to think about writers as living, breathing people rather than characters in a book.  They share real-life experiences with us, some similar and some more peculiar than our own.

These musings are followed by a series of questions and answers, purely conversational in tone, about what might be important about Margaret Wise Brown.  Regardless of your age or level of curiosity or knowledge of this author, you will find something you probably did not know.  Did you know that Margaret Wise Brown's favorite dog, Crispin's Crispian, bit lots of people?

You will be astounded at the number of pets she had as a child, particularly rabbits, and how she paid tribute (if that is what it was) when one rabbit's life ends.  We are told it is significant to realize that this book and the books Margaret Wise Brown wrote depict life to children in all its aspects, even if they might seem odd.  We are offered ideas about Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny and Little Fur Family.  We are given examples of what some people might consider unusual about Margaret Wise Brown and what some people might find extraordinarily wonderful about her.

We are reminded of the value of every book even if the people who write them might be perceived as strange or their content is considered strange.  Following this short discussion, we become acquainted with children's librarian Anne Carroll Moore of the New York Public Library, of her constant companion, NK, and her attitude about the books penned by Margaret Wise Brown.  (Who knew this?)  We are privy to the actions of Margaret Wise Brown and her editor Ursula Nordstrom during a notable tea party at the New York Public Library.

We, without hesitation, turn the pages until we discover or remember, depending on the reader, how Margaret Wise Brown died at an early age.  What remains is a beautiful discourse on the twists and turns of our lives and the telling of stories and their importance when the strangeness of one becomes the strangeness of the other.  We come full circle with a single sentence.


The words, sentences and paragraphs written by Mac Barnett in this book are done so after meticulous research and with intention.  This is evident in his first three sentences (and with every word written thereafter). His repetition of the number 42 is powerful and the use of the word important reflects on the title of this book, Margaret Wise Brown's books and the actual definition of the word important.

In his writing of this book, he employs a technique of stating simple truths, wondering about those truths and combining this with questions and some answers.  At times we ask ourselves is the author telling this story or are we telling it as readers?  It's an astounding feeling which grows as the pages are turned.  Margaret Wise Brown's life is depicted in Mac Barnett's words as if she had written it herself.  Here is a passage.

Now it's true that Margaret Wise Brown wrote strange books.
In her books, you would turn a page
and the story would suddenly change.
Sometimes a duck would appear for no reason.
And the narrator would often stop telling the story
and ask the reader a question.
Now isn't that a strange thing to do?


Readers will find it hard not to gasp for the first of many times when they remove and open the dust jacket.  The sky and clouds, and grass extend from the left flap edge to the right flap edge.  What readers can't see are rabbits, tucked in the grass to the left of the spine and on the right flap.  Margaret Wise Brown running after Crispin's Crispian mirrors her lively spirit to perfection.

On the book case the sky and clouds indicate in shades of peach, pink and yellow, the day is coming to a close. The scene extends across the back and the front, edge to edge.  Now Margaret Wise Brown is lying on her stomach in the grass on the right.  Some of her body crosses the spine to the left.  She is facing her beloved dog who, at rest, is facing her.  A single rabbit appears between them.  Other rabbits watch them from the left.

A pale, muted green covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the title, verso and dedication pages Margaret Wise Brown is chasing after Crispin's Crispian again.  A portion of her body is running off the title page.  He has stopped on the dedication page to look back at her.  The illustrations rendered in watercolor, Nupastel, and Photoshop throughout this book by Sarah Jacoby are a marvelous pictorial presentation and extension of the text.

Rabbits subtly appear, almost silently, in a floral image, a field and woodland scene or as children with their rabbit librarian during a storytime featuring this book and other important books.  The details in Sarah Jacoby's work are intricate among her softly colored artwork.  Watch the rabbit listeners during the storytime.  Pay attention to the hands on the clock in the library.

Some of Sarah Jacoby's pictures are framed with borders, others span to the pages' edges, and some are small vignettes grouped together.  Her pacing is deliberate.  Among the delicate hues, line work, picture sizes and pacing, there is a spirit of joy and of a life lived completely.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture.  From left to right crossing the gutter is a wagon pulled by a gray horse.  The wagon is overflowing with flowers of all shapes, sizes and colors.  You can see the surprise on the seller's face when Margaret Wise Brown asks to purchase the entire cart.  Her dog is crouched ready to run next to the cart.  I particularly love this picture because it portrays a strange and beautiful moment in her life; it's a moment to treasure.


The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown written by Mac Barnett with illustrations by Sarah Jacoby is a stunning, brilliant portrait of a remarkable woman's life.  When you get to the end of the book, you will immediately pause unable to believe the wonder you hold in your hands.  Then you will read it again and again and again.  It is a very important book!  On the verso page is a list of sources by books, articles and collections consulted.  I highly recommend this book for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Mac Barnett and Sarah Jacoby and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  You can view Sarah's blog from her website.  Mac Barnett has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Sarah Jacoby has accounts on Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter.  There is an outstanding blog devoted to the development of this book, here.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  There are exceptional interviews with Mac Barnett and Sarah Jacoby at Blue Willow Book Shop here and here, and at author, blogger and teacher librarian Travis Jonker's 100 Scope Notes at School Library Journal.  Sarah Jacoby is interviewed by author, blogger and teacher librarian Carter Higgins at Design Of The Picture Book and by Dylan Teut, director of the Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival, on his blog, Mile High Reading.


Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to discover the other titles selected this week by those participants in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Remembering A Grandmother

With each decade your reading life flourishes, growing in depth and breadth.  Regardless of the number of titles you read, there will be those books finding a permanent place in your reader's heart; some of them read repeatedly.  You will remember the wonder felt with the first reading.  With each subsequent journey you take within the pages of the book, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, the wonder returns. 

The books by author Madeleine L'Engle written for middle grade and young adults take your mind into places stretching your imagination and piercing your soul.  Two titles leaving a lasting impression on me are Many Waters from her Time Quintet and A Ring of Endless Light from The Austin Family series.  Did I enjoy the other titles in these two groups? Yes, I did but these two, after decades, I can still remember reading them the first time.  Knowing more about the life of this remarkable woman through Becoming Madeleine: A Biography of the Author of A Wrinkle in Time by her Granddaughters (Farrar Straus Giroux, February 6, 2018) written by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy will captivate and inspire readers. 

We were young when our grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle, started sharing with us the patchwork of events, relationships, and emotions that shaped her into the person she was always becoming.

This first sentence leads us into a three-page prologue.  The authors are relating a personal conversation had with their grandmother about her time at the boarding school in Switzerland.  This is our initial glimpse at the strength of character possessed by Madeleine L'Engle and her brilliant insights into authorship.

In the first chapter we are acquainted with Madeleine "Mado" Hall Barnett, Madeleine's mother, and Charles Wadsworth Camp, her father, their pursuits, life experiences and their marriage.  A beautiful letter from Mado to Charles, serving in World War I overseas, speaks of the birth of Madeleine.  This is the beginning of the use of letters, postcards and journal entries in support of the narrative.

Page by page we are transported back in time following Madeleine from childhood, through her years at school in New York until sixth grade, and her three years at the school in Switzerland (They move due to her father's health after exposure to gas during the war.)  As tensions escalate in Europe coupled with Madeleine's grandmother's illness, the family returns to Jacksonville, Florida to care for her Dearma.  Madeleine and her parents remain there, even after the death of her grandmother.

It's as if we are side by side Madeleine as she completes her high school years at Ashley Hall, attends college at Smith College and begins work in the theater.  In each of these portions of her life, her writing never stops.  It shapes everything she does.  Through marriage, forty years with the love of her life, and raising three children, she writes.  Our reading lives are far better thanks to Madeleine L'Engle and now we have knowledge of why this is true.

This is a biography, when once started, has to be completed as soon as possible.  The narrative penned by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy enhanced with letters, postcards and journal entries is as fascinating as the stories written by Madeleine L'Engle.  We are able to see how history, family and a desire to become a writer all contributed to this woman becoming unforgettable.

The personal relationship Charlotte and Lena had with their grandmother and extensive research through her papers give readers an intimate portrait of Madeleine through specific details of significant incidents and years.  We find ourselves inwardly cheering for Madeleine.  We find ourselves comprehending the love these two women had and continue to have for their grandmother.  My copy of this book is replete with marked passages.  Here are several.

His moodiness did not stop Madeleine from adoring her father, and being a little bit in awe of him.  He was a force in the world:  charismatic, confident, and charming.  She watched him writing, absorbed in his creation of stories---real and fictional---and saw that it gave him both pleasure and frustration.  He wrote a first draft in longhand and then typed it out on a typewriter.  As a war correspondent, he typed his dispatches directly.  When Madeleine was ten, he gave her his old typewriter, which she used into the 1950s.

I am afraid of ideas tonight.  Mother and father talked politics for a couple of minutes tonight, and politics always get me jumpy when the world is in a mess like it is now, and so tonight I am afraid of ideas---not actualities.

An idea has more power over human mind than anything else---actuality you can touch, but ideas are elusive---ununderstandable.  But these thoughts have the power to make you understand beauty, fear, rejoice---almost more than actualities. (This is a journal entry by Madeleine when she was still in high school.)

Becoming Madeleine: A Biography of the Author of A Wrinkle in Time by her Granddaughters written by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy is a superb collaboration; a masterful blend of narrative and letters, postcards, journal entries and other papers.  There are captioned photographs throughout highlighting the text.  It is a love letter, a tribute, to a life dedicated to writing, family, friends, a husband and her children.  I highly recommend it for placement in your professional and personal collections.  

To learn more about Lena Roy and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  At this publisher's website you can read an excerpt.  If you prefer to listen to an audio clip, the link is here.  Here is the link to Madeleine L'Engle's website.  This is the link at the site to a blog post about the writing of this book by Lena Roy.  At Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries John Schumacher's website, Watch. Connect. Read., he chats with authors Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy about this book.  At teacher librarian Travis Jonker's 100 Scope Notes hosted by School Library Journal, Lena Roy shares three things which surprised her about her grandmother.  At Publishers Weekly is a post about the creation of this book with quotes from the authors (including information about the upcoming film, A Wrinkle in Time).  Both authors are interviewed at Barnes & Noble, BN Kids Blog.  Charlotte Jones Voiklis is interviewed at The Amazon Book Review.  Lena Roy wrote a guest post at the Nerdy Book Club about this title.

On a personal note my mother was two years younger than Madeline L'Engle.  They grew up in separate worlds but were still impacted by history.  After my mother passed away, in her book collection I found an unread copy of Madeline L'Engle's book, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, autographed by the author.   I know there's a story connected to this book, but I'll never know it.

This title is considerable longer than a picture book but I feel compelled to include it as my entry in this week's 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.  Please visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator, Alyson Beecher, to view the other titles chosen by other participants this week.

 

Making Magic For Her Boys

If you are fortunate, like I was, you grow up hearing stories.  Your parents tell you of their adventures as children, teenagers and adults before you became part of their world.  They speak of these things to create a familial bond with you; to give you an understanding of your heritage.  These tales are also meant to help you become the best person you can be; to assist you in realizing your potential.

There are other stories less truthful, born in their imaginations.  These transform hours, some of boredom and illness, into memories never forgotten.  There was an extraordinary woman, a mother, whose stories still hold their original magic today.  Big Machines: The Story of Virginia Lee Burton (How Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel And Friends Came To Life) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 5, 2017) written by Sherri Duskey Rinker with illustrations by John Rocco reveals how this woman used her remarkable gifts to bring joy to her two sons and other daughters and sons for generations to come.

This is Virginia Lee, but everyone in seaside
Folly Cove simply calls her Jinnee.
Anyone who meets Jinnee
will tell you that
she is quite
magical.

She has a way to coax colorful beauty into being in her gardens.  Animals, domestic and wild, see in her a friend they can trust.  When she dances, her shape seems to shift into whatever she wants us to see.  Best of all, when she draws, a spell is cast on all who view her work.

For her two boys, Aris and Michael, she pictures what they love best,

BIG MACHINES.

With her hands she brings to life a powerful train, a hardworking steam shovel, a tireless snow plow and determined cable car.  These machines' stories leave readers with timeless truths formed by their adventures and the work they do.

When Jinnee begins to draw a little pink house sitting on a hill with daisies and apple trees, Aris and Michael can see she has definitely strayed from what they enjoy most.  She asks them to be patient.  This little house is to be a part of an even greater adventure; one filled with the growth of a city and the machines who are a part of that growth.

In this book she shows the two boys how vehicles offer salvation to the little pink house.  She knows her two favorite readers and what they want and need.  She knew all of us too.


With each reading of this title penned by Sherri Duskey Rinker my appreciation for the accomplishments of Virginia Lee Burton grows.  The approach of beginning Virginia's story after her two boys are born brings a special connection to the intended audience.  Reminding readers of the admiration felt by the members of the Folly Cove community for her is a refreshing introduction to the magic of her talents as an artist and a writer.  Viewing her drawing and painting tools as a wand is genius.

When Sherri Duskey Rinker describes how Virginia Lee Burton creates the train, Choo Choo, the steam shovel, Mary Anne, for Mike Mulligan And His Steam Shovel, the crawler tractor turned snow plow for Katy And The Big Snow, and Maybelle for Maybelle The Cable Car it's like we are in the studio with her as she shapes and forms these characters.  With Sherri's words Aris and Michael are participants in each of these big machines' tales.  We watch and hold our breaths along with the boys as we see what is happening to the little pink house. Here are two passages.

And right before Michael's eyes:
A bucket loads and lifts, clearing
earth to make canals, cutting
through mountains for
railways, leveling land for
highways and runways,
digging deep into the
earth, making 
foundations.

Smoke blows from her stack.
There, loud and proud, strong
and steely, always hard at work:
Mary Anne!


The first thing, the very first thing, I did upon opening the matching dust jacket and book case was study those champion characters from children's literature recalling their stories read and shared repeatedly over the years.  When my eyes moved to the left, on the back, there was the little pink house, the city grown up behind her and on both sides.  The subway moved beneath her and the train ran around her.  Smoke filled the sky as the charcoal like images shown are washed from top to bottom in a shade of blue to green and then yellow.

The opening and closing endpapers are in pale yellow with light blue images.  Gears are stenciled around matching elements on the left and right.  It's the little house with the apple trees and daisies on the little hill.  In a circle around it are the cable car, crawler tractor, steam shovel, train and the truck in a repeating pattern.  Beneath the text on the title page, John Rocco places each of the big machines and the little pink house with the truck pulling it back home.

Rendered in watercolor, colored pencil, and digital media the full-color illustrations truly take us back in time.  John Rocco presents us with large two-page pictures and single-page images flowing and golden, many of them moving from the left into the right.  To show us the artistic process of Virginia Lee Burton he gives us a bird's eye view of her working from farther away to very close through a series of six small pictures on a single page.  As she draws the characters for her books, it's a different technique for the presentation of each one but the key factor is the two boys are always a part of the visual narrative.  The meticulous research of John Rocco is clearly evident.

I have many, many favorite pictures.  One of my favorites is of the creation of Katy.  On the left Virginia is first standing in front of a blank page.  She then sketches outlines of a crawler tractor on several sheets of paper.  They are filled in with red.  Then a blade appears.  Along the bottom on the left the boys dressed for winter weather are following Virginia, now wearing boots, as she puts on a winter coat.  They walk through snow and falling snow to the right.  Katy is there in front of them, larger than life.  She is framed with blue swirls reminiscent of the cover on the original book.


Big Machines: The Story of Virginia Lee Burton (How Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel And Friends Came To Life) written by Sherri Duskey Rinker with illustrations by John Rocco is a book to cherish.  You will read it over and over again.  You will hardly be able to wait to share it with others.  And you will get copies of the Virginia Lee Burton books to read at least once more, to share with first time readers or to add to your collection.  You need to have this book in your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Sherri Duskey Rinker and John Rocco and their other work, please visit their websites (and Sherri's blog) by following the links attached to their names.  Here is the link to a special publisher website for this book. Travis Jonker, teacher librarian and blogger (among other wonderful accomplishments) at 100 Scope Notes, reveals the cover for this title.  Sherri Duskey Rinker and John Rocco are interviewed at The Horn Book about this title.  Sherri Duskey Rinker is interviewed at KidLit 411, Where The Board Books Are and HENRYHERZ.COM.  John Rocco is featured about this title at the BookPage and at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Enjoy the video below.



Please take a few moments to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week by bloggers participating in the 2017 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Creature Comforts

Each evening of the week it's the same.  After play, treats, more play, more treats, and trips outside she makes her way to the quilt-covered couch.  Pillows are stacked on the back and sides giving her a somewhat elevated status behind me as I work, using the coffee table as a desk.  The sounds of her soft breathing as she sleeps surround me like a comfortable, cozy blanket.

The solace found in this dog's presence transcends any other experience.  Animals take their ability to live in the moment, using their senses and give humans unexpected but welcome peace.  It's a gift we rarely deserve but strive to repay.  A Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider: The Story of E. B. White (Christy Ottaviano Books, Henry Holt And Company, October 24, 2017) written by Barbara Herkert with illustrations by Lauren Castillo is indeed a story of a beloved author's life but it's also a reflection on the influence of animals in that life and in his work.

When young Elwyn White
lay sick in bed,
a bold house mouse
befriended him.

As you might suspect Elwyn had to keep this friend a guarded secret from his mother but the imaginary adventures and visits to the barn they shared were memorable.  With this companion the boy inhaled all the sights, sounds and smells found in the hay-filled haven.  Eventually Elwyn had to go to kindergarten.  He dreaded it with every fiber of his being.

Fears of one thing after another plagued him.  He could hardly wait to get home discarding everything school related as he headed to the barn.  As he got older at the close of the day (or when an opportunity presented itself) he would write about those sights, sounds and smells found in the outside world in his journal.  Writing felt as right as rain to Elwyn.

He continued to write, for a newspaper, when he attended college, and became editor-in-chief.  One night on the way home from work another mouse visited Elwyn in a dream.  He became the main character for a series of stories told to relatives at celebratory gatherings.  After college, writing gave him another job and writing lead him to his wife.  Yearning for life away from New York City, Elwyn, his wife and their three children settled on a farm in Maine along the coast.

It was here the mouse from his dream became a book.  It was here the tale of a pig and a spider, still read today with great affection, was penned.  It was here animals again were integral to the world of E. B. White.  Our lives are far richer for the boy who became a man finding comfort in creatures.


Eloquent language written by Barbara Heckert with wonderfully expressive verbs and adjectives implores readers to explore the world along with E. B. White.  She recreates scenarios allowing us to view them as this author did.  We become connected to those things which gave this man his inspiration.  Here is a portion of one of my favorite passages.

In the refuge of the stable,
Elwyn's senses sharpened
to the ripe scent of manure,
the creak of harness leather,
the perfect shape of eggs, . . .


There is not a single image in this title, beginning with the opened dust jacket, I would not be honored to hang on a wall in my home.  Luminosity exudes warmth from each illustration.  We literally become a part of the world inhabited by E. B. White.  When you look at the scene of the barn extending to the left, on the back, with the horse stalls and three horses, you feel the same calm felt by this boy.

On the book case covered in a textured, glowing golden yellow we see E. B. White seated on a stool just left of the center.  He is holding his mouse companion.  The mouse is looking at him but Elwyn is looking at a spider web masterfully stretched in the upper right hand corner with a spider dangling down.  Perhaps she has something to tell Elwyn.  These two visuals are embossed in barn red like the varnished letters of the title on the jacket.

A bright spring green covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the title page and dedication page we are privy to small pictures of the boy in the company of animals.  Rendered in

brown ink, Adobe Photoshop, watercolor, and foam print texture

by Lauren Castillo, the illustrations vary in size from two pages, to a single page, to loose circular pictures on a single page or a group of smaller images on a single page.  These groupings indicate the passage of time and heighten the pacing, as do the different size pictures.  Lauren invites readers to pause prior to each page turn to enjoy all the elements of each image.  They reflect the boy and then the man and the time period in which he lived.


One of my many favorite pictures, actually two, is on a single page.  Elwyn, in the first, is seated on steps with his open journal, writing.  Next to him, looking in earnest, is his mouse.  In the second Elwyn is in the barn sitting and writing again in his journal.  A basket of eggs is next to him on the hay.  A mother duck and two of her chicks are moving toward him.


As soon as you look at this book, A Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider: The Story of E. B. White written by Barbara Herkert with illustrations by Lauren Castillo, and then hold it in your hands, it's as if the wonder inside begins to seep out and envelope you.  Readers will come to know E. B. White in a singular way, as facts of his life are deftly woven into the narrative and artwork.  I highly recommend this title for your classroom, school library and personal bookshelves.  Be sure to read the Author's Note at the close of the book followed by a bibliography.

To discover more about author Barbara Herkert and author-artist Lauren Castillo and their other work please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Lauren Castillo maintains an Instagram account which contains process artwork for this and other titles.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher, hosted the cover reveal on his site, Watch. Connect. Read.  I know you will enjoy his conversation with author Barbara Herkert.

UPDATE:  Author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson features Lauren Castillo, her art and process for this title on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, November 26, 2017.


Please take a few moments to visit Kid Lit Frenzy to see the other titles selected this week by those participating in the 2017 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.